Asphalt Junkies Spring 2013 - Closed (Page 70)

Warren thanks for posting these articles. They were both interesting and very informative. To be honest I never really considered the points he makes for the lower cadence outside of being able to keep the bike stable on the trainer. It makes sense but what surprised me the most was how overheating factored into the equation. I never really thought about that being a factor. The other interesting point was about having too high a cadence were it becomes counter productive. I've heard about having too low a cadence but not too high. This is all good stuff to consider.

I finally got through both of the articles. 

I enjoyed the optimal cadence article best.  Finding an optimal cadence takes time for anyone.  To be honest I am not sure I've fond my optimal yet.  While on my road bike I have been in the low to mid 90's all of last year but I didn't have any cadence monitoring on my TT bike.  I made a few assumptions that if I was riding at 90 on my road bike, then I was likely to be the same (or close) on my TT bike.  The few times I checked my cadence by counting and multiplying I seemed close.  However, since I'm a mathematical moron I didn't place a lot of stock in my numbers.

What I did not consider is the differences in road cycling and triathlon.  The differences are pretty obvious in reality but I hadn't paid much attention to them.  I did think back to a race last year when I was beginning to pass another athlete and he lit up the pedals as I got next to him.  I grabbed another gear and stood in the pedals and dropped him.  (The pic is below and the camera caught the action, so to speak.)  But anyway, this coming season I'll have a cadence sensor on my TT bike to see if there are any differences in real world scenarios for me.

Dean Philips is a beast!  440 watts?!?!?!  That's insanity!

Dirk, I enjoyed reading your history of getting into triathlon. I didn't realize you fought through all those injuries. Excellent example of training smarter not just harder.

I have looked back at my logs but I don't have the encouraging improvement in times that you see. I was not new to the pool when I started triathlon so besides just learning how to push myself for speed those times are pretty steady. With running I have been focused on slowing down to attempt to decrease risk of injury so those times are obviously slower. The only improvements in my times are on the bike and I can thank the tri bike for that!

I'm following along with the bike articles and video - lots of information to think about!

Samantha, sometimes that happens.  Sometimes we just need a few days to get our mojo back.  Taking a few days off can be just want you needed.  I normally don't have to take that many days off before I get myself back into the groove but I certainly have taken some time off to get back into the swing.  For me it seems like I usually get something unwanted such as a storm or other emergency related at work that pulls me away from training for 2-3 days and by the time I get done with that work I am really ready to get some training going again.

Take your time getting back into training and maybe lay off the bike and swims a little bit if you think you're pressing really hard mentally and physically.  I have made the determination that I am going to back my cycling down a little bit because the heavy load is taking it's toll on my legs during my marathon training.  Maybe you are having a similar experience?  Only you can really answer with how your training has been going.  Remember you aren't a professional athlete, you're a person with a day job and other responsibilities.  If you are stressing over the 100 runs in 100 days, drop them.  Training should be mostly fun and sometimes hard, not the other way around.

After missing 7 days in a row, I've managed to get in work outs 8 of the last 9 days.  Had a good bike ride today, 48 miles w/ close to 17mph avg.  That's a poor man's Dirk... ha!  

Very encouraging and feels like my legs are coming back after almost 2 years off the bike.  

As much as I would like to think the weather would be as nice as it was last year I don't think we'll be as lucky.  And in all reality I don't want that weather this year.  I have heard horror stories about Boston last year from some local runners that were there for the marathon last year.  They said the med tents were full of people because of the heat.  One of the owners of the running store I buy my shoes at required IV fluids.  Nope!  I'll take what we have now and maybe slightly warmer.  Or at least the averages we should expect for this time of year.

I did go back and check my logs from last year and found my first outdoor activity in Indiana, running, the temp was 61 degrees on March 6.  I was in Cody Wyoming for the first couple of days of March last year.  On March 20 the temp was 83 degrees during a run.  I remember last March very well.  It was nice to experience then but I am not interested this year.

Haha!  Sounds like you had a great time on the ride and some great support too.  Keep working on staying on someone's wheel and you'll get comfortable drafting.  You'll be amazed at what it feels like when you've completed long rides after spending time in a group drafting.  Learn to find the sweet spots in the slipstream and it's almost like you're doing nothing.  I love riding in a group!

Dirk-

Thanks for the long post. For me, it helps me see the importance of tracking and record keeping. If all that information/data is lost over the years, it is hard to get an accurate assessment of progress. When I started training last year, I bounced around between 3 different apps to track my training progress and settled on the BT log at the end of the year.

Tony does an amazing job tracking his diet and training and now I can see even more the benefits of doing this.  

Alright, the past week has been a strange week. After my grandmother passed, I took some time off last week- I was hoping to head back to California for a days for the funeral service. I was not able to make the trip out there, but I stayed home and hoped to get in a few extra long training sessions.

That didn't happen. My grandmother's passing caught up to me, I had the joy of dental work and a day of recovery, and then making the decision to pull out of the Albany HM next Saturday, has left me in a funk. I did get to spend extra time with my husband and two little girls, and my 2 year-old caught a 24 hour stomach bug that kept me up all night Wednesday night. I thought I was going to march through some to-do lists, but that hasn't happened either.

I am hoping get back on the horse tomorrow, I am home alone today with my girls, which means no workouts. I might brave the bike trainer for 30 minutes during their nap, but they really won't let me do any training otherwise.

MY QUESTION IS....

Per my training schedule for 3.30.13 Sprint Tri ...... this is supposed to be a taper week, but I feel like I tapered last week. Should I stick with another easy week of training, or move forward and treat last week as my taper week?

Yes I remember how warm March was last year and I also remember reading about how people suffered at Boston. I would prefer a warm March but a nice cool day for Dirk - how's that .

Will nice job getting in consistent workouts!

Samantha have you had any more PT appointments with the new PT? Agree with Dirk, don't even look back at the 3 days off. I had a couple of days off when I was sick and I have felt much better since.

Now my husband was down with the stomach flu all day yesterday so I'm afraid I still have that coming. I'm just going to focus on the fact that I had a flu shot and he didn't and tell myself I'm not going to get it. Although my kids also had flu shots but had this stomach flu anyway......

Sorry you had such a difficult week and I hope the rest of your family does not get the flu bug.

I don't know where your training schedule came from - the internet or a coach? But I would count last week as your taper and move forward this week.

OK - I completed yesterday's trainer ride on my road bike using Peripedal. I reset my speed sensor, made sure it flashed red and green which it did. Everything worked fine for the first 50 min or so then the speed checked out again. It always happens when I have to hammer a hard effort. Maybe there is just something wrong with my sensor? The Peripedal ride I chose was 1.5 hours long, then I did another 20 min or so on my own. Before I stared that 20' I moved the sensor to a different spoke, reset again, tightened it down really tight and it worked for that last 20 min. The cadence part is fine, it's just the speed.

I don't know, I want to do another test but I'll be pretty frustrated if it drops my data half way through the ride!

I rode 44 miles outside yesterday!   It was sunny and in the upper 40's.  The wind was blowing super hard, though.  It was a nice ride.

I decided to test my foot on a pretty steep but short hill.  It did fine.  I was able to stand up, too!

My legs are on notice!  Their 7+ week vacation is about to come to an end!

Since the beginning of the year, we have been unusually dry.  It's typically raining cats and dogs from December through March.  I've never seen so many dry days in a row.  I hope the weather remains cool for Dirk.  My friends did Boston last year.  They threw out all expectations of time and just had fun running and walking the course and taking in the sights and sounds.  The heat was especially brutal for them since our temps around here rarely get higher than the upper 60's.

Will nice job on the bike ride and getting your workouts in. I don't think it's going to take you very long to get your speed up and your endurance back. Just keep riding.

Jen I'm sorry to hear about your grandmother's passing and for the tough week you had last week. I am glad to hear that you did get to spend some more time with your husband and family though. As far as the training goes I agree with Dina I would be getting back to working out and treat last week as recovery week. The taper should be the week leading up to the race.

Dirk I'm hoping for some warmer weather soon I won't lie about that I just hope for sake you get a nice cool and comfortable day in Boston. Last year was an absolute nightmare for the runners there. Let's all hope that doesn't happen this year.

Dina hopefully the flu shot works for you and you don't get it.

Dina sounds like the sensor or the magnet might be loose and going slightly out of alignment while you ride. I can't imagine how fustrating that might be.

Tracy nice job on the bike ride especially with the wind day.  Good to see that you have been able to take advantage of the dry weather to get your rides in outdoors. I'm also glad to hear your foot is feeling much better.

Hello junkies! Just checking in after being MIA for a couple of weeks. Trip to India was awesome. Travelled a lot and had great fun at the weddings. Got back Wednesday and had to fly to Florida on work and with jet lag, work etc have been feeling sick this past weekend where all I've wanted to do was sleep at odd hours! 

Training has been OK - definitely less than I would have liked but I'm happy I got a chance to get in a few runs while I was there. Even managed a swim workout which was nice. Now back on track starting this week and I have 12 weeks to go to my sprint and 20 weeks to NYC. 

Hope everybody is doing fine and I'm going to go back and read the 10-15 pages I missed!

Bhargav welcome back! Glad to hear you had a good trip and did get some training in while you were in India. Good luck with trying to catch up, I think that is nearly impossible with this group being so active!

Finished the long ride from Jorge's WCP today, 12 weeks down only 4 more to go! Today was a 3 hour ride and to be honest not really all that bad. It was actually one of the more forgiving workouts you will find in Jorge's plan so I can't complain about it plus I was watching the Daytona 500 while I was doing it so the time went by fairly quick.

I'm finding I really don't mind riding on the trainer. Most workouts are 60 - 70 minutes or less and those go by quick. The long rides are a little harder to get motivated for like anything over a couple of hours but I find if I break up the time it's not so bad. Plus there is no messing around or any distractions on the trainer like there is with outdoor riding. I get right down to business and get the work done.

I think I'm gonna be in really good shape on the bike this season which will help the run. Now if I could only make some progress with my swimming I'd be all set!